Conventionally, there is a production method of sheet metal products through blanking and bending, such that a sheet material is subjected to blanking by the punching cell, and the obtained parts is subjected to bending by the bending cell (Japanese patent publication: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-33541).
However, with such a conventional technique, bending can be executed by the bending cell, after blanking a sheet material by the punching cell, and then (1) disjointing, (2) classifying parts, (3) searching a part from the classified interim inventory (half-finished goods), and (4) performing bending planning (replacement of required mold, material setting, calling data). Therefore, time and labor are inevitably required for disjointing, parts classification, parts search, and bending planning. It is not so bothersome when a large lot is handled, but in the case of variety and variant production in which various different parts are handled in a small lot, lots of time and labor are required, thereby considerably reducing the productivity.
In view of the above situation, it is an object of the present invention to provide a complex working system for sheet metal working, which is applied to a sheet metal working line equipped with a pre-step working cell and a subsequent post-step working cell, for example, blanking and bending by the punching cell and the bending cell, to considerably improve the productivity in the variety and variant small-lot production, while excluding problems in the conventional system.